STRAIGHT ESCAPE.

Freak Show

Nobody heard of Paige for 2 weeks straight. Every time one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents went to check on her and give her anything she needed, the kid was just sitting on her bed, reading 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone' that Natasha had given her a few days earlier. The first page was ripped off and torn apart because of one of Paige's bursts of rage but she had quickly calmed down and found herself guiltily trying to glue it back together. 

Reading in english turned out to be much harder than expected. No matter how good Paige was with languages, she was too distracted and the letters looked more like tiny little people than anything else to be honest.

She was having such a hard time adjusting. One morning she was sat on her bed braiding Liz's hair with a tight grip, and 3 days later an entire ocean separated them. Whichever one it was, who cares. She's never really made any effort in geography. 

Liz was the only girl Paige liked a tiny bit. She was very talkative and quite honestly annoyed Paige like no one did, but surprisingly enough, the only time she worried was when Liz would stop talking. 

Liz was tiny. Like when you almost stick your fingers together and there's only a small gap left between them. Tiny like that. She had the prettiest hair, Paige loved to braid it. It was brown and shiny, just like her eyes except they were really dark. Whoever looked into Liz's eyes could see themselves like in a mirror. 

That's why Paige didn't really like looking into them. She would rather just treat her like she was special and yell at her during practice.

Nobody was allowed to yell at Liz. Nobody but Paige. Liz was tiny and she was younger, nobody really knew how old exactly she was. Whenever asked, she would just rise 5 fingers, but Paige wasn't sure she knew how to count. 

There wasn't anything she was great at, actually. But it was okay because it was Liz, and Paige was never mad at Liz except when they were working together.

And when she was having a fuss, of course.

Anyhow, the little girl hadn't shown any sign of anger for the past 2 weeks or so and seemed to be getting calmer. Maybe she understood that it was the only way for her to be freed. 

Natasha had been really thankful for these 2 weeks of calm, she'd stopped checking on Paige 3 times a day and went back to doing missions after a while.

That night, at around 2:00, she was arguing with Steve on the other side of the country when Paige's cell door opened.

It was silent, barely audible. But she heard it and instantly froze in terror, holding her breath with the entirety of her body hidden under the covers.

Heavy footsteps followed, then nothing. It's like the person was just standing here, staring at her.

This only lasted for a few minutes, but it felt like hours before a deep voice rose.

"Paige."

Nick Fury.

She finally allowed herself to breathe and her shaky hands moved the blanket away from her sweaty face. She stared at him with frustration.

"What the fuck?"

He gave her an intimidating look, not moving an inch as she sat up on her small bed.

"You really need to learn and say something else than just slurs." He said in a strict voice.

Paige just shrugged. Whatever. She was really lost at the moment.

It was the middle of the night and Fury was visiting her, which he NEVER does. And yeah, also the fact she was not home.

"I assume you don't know why I'm here."